what if it works out?

this week i collaborated with two hundred 5, 6 and 7 year olds and nothing went wrong. it worked out great!

This week, my collaborator Krista and I completed a mural for an early learning center!

The mural was inspired by the school’s plans to turn a sunny courtyard into a hands-on garden classroom later this spring.

Krista has completed beautiful collaborative murals before, so when she invited me to join her on this project it was an easy and enthusiastic yes! I knew I was going to learn; I just had to trust the process, let go of control and be open to a completely different way of creating!

We designed the mural to feel meaningful and specific to the school - sketching vegetables, flowers, and STEAM tools to reflect the students’ garden project and their curiosity for science, technology, engineering, art, and math.

We kept the design simple enough to involve the youngest learners while still feeling thoughtful and cohesive. Before our young collaborators joined us, we outlined the mural shapes so that it was clear where the students could paint.

Over two days, 200 students—ages 5 through 7 — cycled through the art classroom to help us add color to the mural.

When we introduced ourselves, many of them proudly shared that they were artists too :)

They were focused and careful, taking their roles in the process seriously. We guided them as they filled in shapes with color, and helped clean up drips and spills here and there!

After our student collaborators filled in most of the shapes, we added additional layers to achieve opacity. We refined the lines and finished up with a few small textural details.

On one of the warmer days this week, Krista and I ate our lunch in the courtyard and basked in the sun. Sitting in the courtyard felt like a little nature oasis after being inside a classroom for a few hours!

The green space at the center of the school — where the new garden will be, and what inspired this mural — was the feature most discussed by the architect and the community members who served on the building committee in the early 1960s. According to an article I found in a school scrapbook at my local library, this elementary school had the most extensive design process in a decade!

Tile covers the walls throughout most of the building. The architect viewed the tile as a low maintenance and enduring surface. 60+ years later the tile is going strong! Krista and I loved these color pops throughout the building and wanted our mural palette to work harmoniously with the existing built environment.

Since nearly every surface was tiled (seriously!!! the commitment to tile was next level), we ended up painting the mural on lightweight panels that will be installed on top of the tile. We don’t yet know which wall the mural will be installed on, but here it is:

A few students stopped by as we were adding final touches to the piece and pointed out the sections they had painted with excitement and pride. Their joy was contagious!

studio/painting reminders:
- letting go of control might be the next move
- trust the process
- again, what if it works out!?
- say YES
- let someone else take the lead

Big thanks to the incredible teachers and staff who made this 200-student collaboration possible! Krista and I are already sketching ideas for our next mural, and we’re especially excited about creating something floral, textured and multi-dimensional, like a cut-out collage on a wall… Got a space in mind? Let us know!

Thanks for looking & reading!